Incognito
Meanwhile, in Spring Castle, in the kingdom of Ruana, his majesty, King Lucian was having his weekly beard trim. However, in this case, the worries he felt in light of the terrible predicament Amberjill found herself in left him unable to think about it for weeks. Now, the royal hairdresser had a hard job in front of her.
The delicate and perfectly groomed beard that the king proudly sported had turned into a uniform mass of hair, with the tips pointing in various directions. She also swore that those reddish spots that could be seen were from the spaghetti he ate three days ago.
His bushy eyebrows also needed a trim, since when he blinked, his eyelashes got caught on them. The king looked like a hermit, a hobo hermit.
Edward, who, with intense interest, admired the skills of the royal hairdresser, and the dexterity with which she untied knots, was accompanying his majesty.
The king, out of the corner of his eye, saw his adviser and friend, wanting to ask him for the third time this day if he had received news from his daughter. Sighing, he decided not to, surely he would answer him the same way he did the last three times.
The king and his adviser were lost in their own thoughts when the door to the royal barbershop was flung open, and Lucas entered, gasping. This scared the king to hell, making him jump in his own chair, and causing the royal barber to cut off a chunk of his beard.
The royal barber’s eyes widened at what she had done, lowering her hands, and hiding them behind her back. But the king, returning to the land of the living after the scare, turned to see who it was, and seeing that it was Luca, he got up from the chair, took off the towel that was around his neck, and threw it to the floor.
“My king,” Lucas said, as he made a courtesy. “I bring news.”
The king hurriedly approached him and took him by the shoulders, shaking him. “Tell me, boy, speak now. What news have you received?”
When the king stopped manhandling the poor guard, he said, “My king, I have news of Mahala, but it is terrible.” Lucas’s expression discourage the king even more because that desperation he saw in his eyes had to mean that indeed something terrible had happened to his Amberjill. Lucian swallowed hard and waited for the guard to continue.
“My king, our spies reported an atrocity that my brain was unable to understand. It’s terrible.” But Lucian was seething all over, this foolish guard wasn’t saying anything and his patience was thinning with each passing second.
His majesty grabbed his shoulders again, shaking him harder this time, “Speak you, damn guard, speak, or I’ll send you to the royal bakery for a month.”
Lucas’s eyes widened, and he swallowed, then said, “Your Majesty,” Lucas swallowed again, wishing it wasn’t him the one to deliver this terrifying news. But the murderous face of the king urged him to continue.
“The second wife of the king of Mahala is pregnant.” The last word was said so low that the king had to bring his ear near to the guard's mouth.
Lucian didn’t react to this for a few seconds, giving his brain time to process what was being said, but Edward’s moan, who was behind him, hearing everything made him react. With eyes full of disbelief, the king took several steps back, bumping into his adviser. This one, grabbed him by the elbow before the king could collapse.
Lucas immediately went to help, and between the two of them, they dragged the king’s body to the chair where the royal barber was a few moments ago, skilfully fixing his beard.
The king seemed as if his soul had left him. His already pale skin turned translucent, but a few seconds later, it turned pink, then red. Displaying an incredible range of colours after, until he got to purple, which is when his adviser began to worry, as he thought the king had stopped breathing.
“My king, my king, react,” Edward said while, at the same time, not-so-gently patting the king’s cheeks. At that moment, the king exploded as if his mouth was a volcano, spewing all kinds of curses and damnations towards the king of Mahala. But when he stopped, the seriousness on his face was fearsome. When Lucas and Edward saw him, they felt sorry for the foolish King of Mahala, who dared to trample on Queen Amberjill’s honour. Since, for Ruana, adultery and polygamy were a curse that had to be eradicated.
Their fervent belief is that doing this will eventually result in sons and daughters, and those babies will suffer the consequences of their parents’ actions for their entire lives. Ruana’s people ensured the care and protection of the little ones, believing a loving home was the best place for them to grow up desired, loved, and without resentment. Building a peaceful society.
But in Mahala, the villagers could get married two or three times at a time, which caused quarrels and envy among the poor wives who couldn’t do anything when their husbands married someone else. Exactly the way it happened to the queen.
Children out of wedlock were always pointed at, whether they wanted it or not, causing resentment and bad feelings in them. For example, second or third wives’ children were considered inferior to the children of the favourite wife or the firstborn. Constantly resenting their status.
Mahala’s way of life is horrible.
But not in Ruana, and that’s why this was so bad. It was a tragedy, and when Ruana's society finds out, they will demand the immediate return of their princess regardless of the consequences. If for them, behaving in this irresponsible manner is to have many children with the main purpose to populate, then what will be the difference between them and rabbits?
King Lucian saw this situation from all sides as bad, terrible, devastating, and impossible. But there was still something he could do before it all blew up, and he had to do it now.
The king, after recovering his voice after shouting so much, calmed down to the surprise of those present, his pale colour returning to his face, living behind the multicolour he displayed a few moments ago.
Looking Edward in the eye, the king said, “Prepare my horse, I will leave immediately for the kingdom of Mahala, incognito. Let’s see what King Alcott has to say about all this.” And with viciousness in his gaze, the king got up and left the royal barber salon.
